shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,864
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Post by shaxper on Feb 10, 2016 8:56:54 GMT -5
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 1, 2017 8:12:05 GMT -5
I bought the lovely little hardcover of Senso for fear that it may run out of print faster than expected, and my intention was to savour it little by little.
Impossible!!!
The story was far too gripping to let me go, and I had to read it all (and re-read part of it) before putting it down! The concept is brilliant, and using seeing the characters we know and care about a decade and a half in the future adds a powerful layer of drama. It would have been easy to just focus on the action, which is breathtaking, but this is Usagi Yojimbo... and it is the characters who are once again the true stars of the tale. It was wonderful to see Usagi, Tomoe and Jotaro struggle with their feelings and their sense of duty; it was great to see Noriyuki having grown into a responsible lord; it was very mature to show that our old ophidian enemy, Lord Hebi, was such a honourable fellow. I also greatly appreciated how Stan draw Hikiji with a masked helmet, hiding his human features!
This could have been an entertaining but minor tale, what with its being a kind of "imaginary story". It is however anything but. In the true "What if..?" tradition, it presents the real characters in a hypothetical situation.
Full marks!!!
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,864
|
Post by shaxper on Mar 1, 2017 8:54:59 GMT -5
I bought the lovely little hardcover of Senso for fear that it may run out of print faster than expected, and my intention was to savour it little by little. Impossible!!! The story was far too gripping to let me go, and I had to read it all (and re-read part of it) before putting it down! The concept is brilliant, and using seeing the characters we know and care about a decade and a half in the future adds a powerful layer of drama. It would have been easy to just focus on the action, which is breathtaking, but this is Usagi Yojimbo... and it is the characters who are once again the true stars of the tale. It was wonderful to see Usagi, Tomoe and Jotaro struggle with their feelings and their sense of duty; it was great to see Noriyuki having grown into a responsible lord; it was very mature to show that our old ophidian enemy, Lord Hebi, was such a honourable fellow. I also greatly appreciated how Stan draw Hikiji with a masked helmet, hiding his human features! This could have been an entertaining but minor tale, what with its being a kind of "imaginary story". It is however anything but. In the true "What if..?" tradition, it presents the real characters in a hypothetical situation. Full marks!!! So glad you loved it! The earlier Space Usagi stories are even more entertaining, from my standpoint. They'll all be reprinted (along with Senso) in the upcoming Usagi Yojimbo Legends collection. I whole-heartedly recommend you check it out! More about Space Usagi |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 5, 2017 9:54:18 GMT -5
How wonder... how canonical will the backstory of senso turn out to be?
I mean, I don't expect Martians to invade Japan; but will Usagi and Gen really end up as retainers to Lord Noriyuki? Is Lord Hebi really the noble character he turns out to be here? Will Tomoe Ame really get stuck in a loveless marriage?
Fifteen years is a long time, but I don't know how far ahead Stan has thing planned.
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,864
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Post by shaxper on Jun 5, 2017 10:30:17 GMT -5
How wonder... how canonical will the backstory of senso turn out to be? I mean, I don't expect Martians to invade Japan; but will Usagi and Gen really end up as retainers to Lord Noriyuki? Is Lord Hebi really the noble character he turns out to be here? Will Tomoe Ame really get stuck in a loveless marriage? Fifteen years is a long time, but I don't know how far ahead Stan has thing planned. Keep in mind that Stan bought himself an out with the ending of that story, in which it all turns out to be an anecdotal account of ancient history from the perspective of Space Usagi. The entire thing could have been made up, largely misremembered, or possibly a combination of the two. None of it is etched in stone; it's all "imaginary story" territory. More fun yet is the idea of extending this outward -- could the entire Usagi universe be nothing more than Space Usagi's bedtime story accounts of a great ancestor? |
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